US Open Series

The US Open Series is the seven-week summer tennis season linking twelve ATP World Tour and WTA Tour tournaments together. The Series leads to the US Open. It is often referred to as the U.S. or North American hard court season. From 2012 thru 2018, the series will be sponsored by Emirates.[1]

It was organized in 2004 as a way to focus more attention on American tennis tournaments by getting more of them on domestic television.[2] Until 2004, most summer North American tournaments were not on television, the exceptions being the highly televised ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati.

The eight non-Masters tournaments now enjoy about 50 hours of television combined—about two hours on each day of their final weekends, chiefly on ESPN2, which is where ESPN shows its tennis programming. Players earn points according to their results in the events; more points are awarded at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and WTA Premier 5 events.[3] The three male and three female players with the highest point totals each earn a bonus at the US Open. The amount depends on their US Open Series placement and US Open result. If both are won then the bonus is $1 million as of 2010. Lleyton Hewitt and Lindsay Davenport were the top point-getters in 2004, Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters won in 2005, and Andy Roddick and Ana Ivanovic won in 2006. Defending US Open champions Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova won in 2007.

In 2005, whereas Roddick was upset in the first round against Gilles Müller at the Open, Clijsters became the first player to win both the US Open Series and the US Open, receiving $2.2 million, the largest payday to date in women's sports. Clijsters defeated Frenchwoman Mary Pierce in straight sets: 6–3, 6–1.[4] In 2010 she won $2.2 million again, this time $1.7 million for the US Open title and $500,000 in bonus for second place in the US Open Series.[5]

In 2007, Federer became the first male player and the second player overall to win the US Open Series and go on to win the US Open, winning $1.4 million plus the US Open Series bonus of $1 million, bringing his prize winning total to $2.4 million.[6] This topped Clijsters' $2.2 million as the biggest US Open payday to date.

In 2013, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal both won the US Open after also winning the US Open Series. Due to several considerable prize money increments over the years, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal surpassed Roger Federer's prize money record by winning $3.6 million each, and they shared the record for the largest prize money paycheck in tennis history for a single tennis tournament. [7][8]

In 2014, Serena Williams would repeat her previous year performance in winning both the US Open Series and the US Open. She now stands alone in the record for the biggest payout for a single tournament in tennis history, with a total amount of $4 million.[9]